Assuming the existence of a monster model, tameness, and continuity of nonsplitting in an abstract elementary class (AEC), we extend known superstability results: let
$\mu>\operatorname {LS}(\mathbf {K})$ be a regular stability cardinal and let
$\chi $ be the local character of
$\mu $-nonsplitting. The following holds:
1. When
$\mu $-nonforking is restricted to
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$-limit models ordered by universal extensions, it enjoys invariance, monotonicity, uniqueness, existence, extension, and continuity. It also has local character
$\chi $. This generalizes Vasey’s result [37, Corollary 13.16] which assumed
$\mu $-superstability to obtain same properties but with local character
$\aleph _0$.
2. There is
$\lambda \in [\mu ,h(\mu ))$ such that if
$\mathbf {K}$ is stable in every cardinal between
$\mu $ and
$\lambda $, then
$\mathbf {K}$ has
$\mu $-symmetry while
$\mu $-nonforking in (1) has symmetry. In this case:
(a)
$\mathbf {K}$ has the uniqueness of
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$-limit models: if
$M_1,M_2$ are both
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$-limit over some
$M_0\in K_{\mu }$, then
$M_1\cong _{M_0}M_2$;
(b) any increasing chain of
$\mu ^+$-saturated models of length
$\geq \chi $ has a
$\mu ^+$-saturated union. These generalize [31] and remove the symmetry assumption in [10, 38] .
Under
$(<\mu )$-tameness, the conclusions of (1), (2)(a)(b) are equivalent to
$\mathbf {K}$ having the
$\chi $-local character of
$\mu $-nonsplitting.
Grossberg and Vasey [18, 38] gave eventual superstability criteria for tame AECs with a monster model. We remove the high cardinal threshold and reduce the cardinal jump between equivalent superstability criteria. We also add two new superstability criteria to the list: a weaker version of solvability and the boundedness of the U-rank.